One Easy Problem With Nine Hard Solutions
by AK-103
Summary: Men and machine. Nerves and circuits. Brain and processor. Free-willed and pre-programmed. Are we really that different? (Alternate Universe, non-chakra, OOC, Modern Timeline, Multi-Xovers and mutiple OCs) M for safety. One-shot.


Konoha, a ward located in Tokyo in Japan. It's almost like a small city, not really a city, but due to the existing advanced technological facilities that this place provides, it's earned the title of city. Despite being one of the special wards of Tokyo, this place is not really famed for its tourism hotspots. In fact, tourism yields the smallest revenue when compared to everything else. The demographic consists of mostly native born Japanese, but should a tourist stumble upon, they won't be having a hard time asking for directions since most of the folks here are multi-lingual. The climate, just like the rest of Tokyo, mainly lies along the line of hot and humid during summer and generally mild winters with cool spells. It rains in Konoha, just like the rest of Tokyo and when it rains, it rains. Snowfall is sporadic, it's consistent.

But what makes this place special is the fact that the main headquarters for Leaf Corp, one of the world's successful android manufacturer.

Leaf Corp has a contract with the Japanese government and through Leaf Corp, androids have become common in Japan. They work, walk and live among humans. Of course, they are not independently roaming around the streets without any form of over watch. Leaf Corp sells the androids they manufactured to the general public, thus allowing androids to roam the streets. Contrary to the number of androids currently purchased and activated, only the rich could afford them. Just how expensive are they? Well, let's just say that they are very, very expensive.

If being expensive is the only 'selling point' of their androids, then Leaf Corp will not be as profitable or successful as they are. They created a variety of droids to suit their customer's needs. From normal housemaid androids, driver androids, bodyguard androids even as sensual as love androids. With these unique selling points, Leaf Corp has a very wide variety of androids they could sell and make money from. Of course, they also offer extra services like customization and all sorts of other miscellaneous upgrades that customers could get for their cyber companion.

Leaf Corp has made it clear that they want to be Japan's number one and only android manufacturer and that they are there to stay.

* * *

"Oi Naruto! Naruto!"

"Huh, what do you want Kiba?"

Why do I have such annoying friends?

See that guy with the brown hair running towards me? Unfortunately, he's my childhood friend. Yes, unfortunately. His name is Inuzuka Kiba, his family owns a large dog kennel in town and their dogs are famous for their pedigree. Yeah, believe it or not, his family's quite famous. Unfortunately, due to that, he smells like one.

"Oi, why do I get the feeling as if you're insulting me or something?" he glares at me, sniffing the air. Don't mind him sniffing, it's a part of his innate instinct.

"No, you're just imagining things." I coughed, pretending I did not know what he's talking about. "So, what is it Kibbles? You want a treat or something?"

"Ha, ha, ha." He does a very good Squidward impersonation, I'd say. "No, you whiskers. Kakashi-sensei wants to see you in the faculty office, something about… your situation."

I perked up.

Well that's a surprise…

"Oh really?" I saw him nod. "Okay man, thanks."

"No problem dude." Then he speaks again, just as I was about to leave. "Hey, so you're skipping fourth period right?"

"What's fourth period anyway?"

"Gym."

Hm… should I skip…? "Nah, I won't. I'll come, tell Gai-sensei that I'll be late."

"Alright, see you later!"

"Yeah!"

I gave Kiba a mock salute, before walking off towards the faculty office.

This school is the largest school in the city, quite the prestigious one too. Some of the students that enroll here are mostly here due to personal connections that they have with the school's late chairman, old man Sarutobi. His son, Sarutobi Asuma-sensei, was supposed to inherit the position of chairman but he rejected. The position of chairman was then given to Senju Tsunade, one of old man Sarutobi's students. The Senju and the Sarutobi have been friends for a long time and the fact that Tsunade managed to achieve the position of chairman, from the recommendation of the previous chairman's son nonetheless, only strengthens the relationship between these two families.

But that's enough about the unrelated matter that you'll read here, let's go down the slide to learn about the more interesting things.

This school, believe it or not, used to be an academy; meaning that it offers higher education in specialized fields. Yes, I kid you not, this place was once a college. It was funded by the state and local investors, giving it a rather solid standing locally when compared to other academies. And what kind of higher education that they provided, you might ask. Well, simply put, it's engineering. Not only engineering, but also other stuffs like biotech, robotics, IT and other related fields.

But let me let you in on a little secret. When this place was under the responsibility of old man Sarutobi, this place was a foundation for Leaf Corp's scientists. Yes, meaning that Leaf Corp has been using this school as a recruitment center. Now there's nothing wrong with that, right? Leaf Corp was also one of the biggest investor, it's only natural that the students' career prospect would lead them into working for Leaf Corp, right?

Yes, there would be nothing wrong, if it wasn't for the scandal that happened a year ago.

What scandal? Well, I don't know for sure, but it has something to do with the change in curriculum and system in this school and why this place is no longer associated with Leaf Corp. It's one of those open secret kinds of case; everyone knows that there's a scandal, but they don't at the same time.

…okay, I doubted that last one.

Now, onto more personal things, about me myself.

I'm just your averagely handsome second year student. My academics are normal, really. The only subjects I'm good at are English and Biology. I'm the vice president of the literature club and one of the most, 'well known' students throughout the school. When I said 'well known', I mean in a sense that people would want to beat me up when they meet me kind of way. But that's not always the case, though. The people that'd do that to me are those that I've pranked before.

As far as making friends go, I believe that it's safe to say that I'm not hopeless. I have friends, though few, they are still friends. I also have many types of friends, from straight up horn-dogs like Kiba, lazy ones, hungry ones, quiet ones and-

"Naruto."

…assholes like this guy in front of me.

I consider myself to be a jerk, yes, and I'm proud of that.

But I'm not an asshole. Oh no. This guy, however, he's one.

And he's my best friend.

I can already hear the girls squealing all around me, really, this guy gets all the girls to the yard. Not in the Peter Griffin kind of way though. That'd be hilarious. His name is Uchiha Sasuke, resident ikemen and the school's Student Council President.

I'm sure that some of you just went, 'holy jumping Jesus, you're friends with le prez himself?' yes, I am friends with the president of the Student Council, the third most powerful position in any Japanese school hierarchy third to the principal/chairman and teachers. And am I proud of it?

No, no I'm not.

"Sasuke-sama~ you're so hot~!"

"Yumi, you can't faint now! He's talking to Uzumaki-kun!"

"Kyaa~ my dreams are becoming reality~! Hold me, Aki!"

"…crap, I need tissue for my nosebleed!"

See, that's why.

I let out the biggest sigh I've ever let out before, attempting to rid myself of the irritation by wiping my face with my palm. "Yeah, what can I do for you, bastard?"

"I'm here to take you to the faculty office, Kakashi wants to make sure that you actually came today." He gives me one of his annoying look that girls always find attractive. Yuck.

"I would've come anyway even without you here, jerk."

He rolls his eyes at me. How dare he? "Just move, I have work to do later."

"Yeah, yeah." Stop grunting already, it's annoying. Seriously, I don't know what girls find attractive in him… his face isn't even that good and he has zero social skills when talking to people outside of the student council and me, since I'm his childhood friend. "And please don't follow me, I don't want to be seen walking around the school with you."

"Hn. No can do, Kakashi also wants to talk to me."

Noticing the look that he's giving me, I pondered. Looks like whatever Kakashi-sensei wants to tell me is important after all, if he's involving Sasuke in this. "Alright, fine, just stay, like, ten feet away from me."

"Hn."

* * *

"Naruto, Sasuke, you're late."

I, and I'm sure Sasuke too, gave him a very harsh glare. "You are the last person I want to hear that from." I spat harshly, shoving my hands inside my pockets.

Inside the faculty office, Kakashi-sensei is sitting on his chair with five stacks of papers in front of him. Kakashi-sensei is one of those people that can annoy you even when he's not trying to be annoying, kind of like prince charming over here with me, but he's a really cool guy when you get to know him. Originally, he's supposed to teach Social Sciences, but after one incident that involved a pregnant student, the burnt and still out of commission second chemistry lab, they made him teach Biology instead. He's one of my favorite teachers in this school, sadly.

Oh and for a record, Kakashi's still single, he's not a father of anyone nor a husband.

The surgical eye patch and mask wearing teacher is also currently reading a familiar orange, hard covered book whilst he's talking to us. We pay him no mind, since Sasuke and I am used to his antics. But the other teachers? Man, I guess they gave up on telling the man off on his second day of work or something.

"I brought him here Kakashi, what do you want?" Sasuke asks with crossed arms. Maybe he wasn't lying about being busy with student council work, after all.

Only then, Kakashi finally discards of his orange book by placing it inside of his desk's drawers. "The reason why I called you here is because of two things. One: Naruto, I still haven't receive your report on how toad oil could be beneficial to the food industry." Gah. "Since you're late in submitting, I'll be expecting twice the content than whatever you already have now."

So, basically, 0x2=0.

"Y-Yeah…" I dodged both Kakashi-sensei's and Sasuke's eyes.

"Two: it's about, you two."

Sasuke and I blinked simultaneously.

"The teme/the dobe?"

Kakashi sighs. "Unfortunately, yes." I don't like that sigh you're letting out, sensei. Tell us what's wrong. "The chairman wants to personally talk to the both of you, something about…personal discipline, or something."

Personal discipline… oh shit.

Sasuke must have noticed the worried look I have on my face, but luckily, I managed to recompose myself before Kakashi notices. "What do you mean, sensei? Personal discipline?" I need to play it out here. "Are you sure it's not only me who's called? This bastard too?" I turned to Sasuke. "Oi, teme, what did you do?"

"I breathe."

"Ha, ha, ha." I find your sense of humor to be extravagantly dumb. "No, seriously, why are we even called? And why is it called personal discipline?"

Obviously, Kakashi-sensei knows nothing about this. What I'm doing is making things look like as if we don't know what he's talking about.

"I don't know. You should ask the chairman herself." Kakashi-sensei tells us. "In fact, you should ask her today, after school, since she wants to speak to the both of you immediately."

Oh God… we're so dead Sasuke…

We're both perfectly aware as to why the chairman requested an audience with us. It's… it's got something to do with a job gone wrong, very wrong. And personal discipline? Yup, I'm perfectly aware of what personal discipline is…

God, I hope it's not the vegetables again…

Don't let the bastard's calm expression fool you, by the way, he's just as nervous as I am about this. It's safe to assume that Sasuke and I, not exactly the both of us, am special students. We have special privileges and roles that we need to fulfill. It involves security, maintenance, cleaning up and other sort of things; but mostly cleaning up. The reason why we're called is because we, the cleaners, made more mess instead of cleaning up the ones that already existed. And knowing gran-I mean Madam chairman/principal herself, she will not be in a good mood when we come to her office after school later.

"Is that all, Kakashi?" of course you're eager to leave, you're probably already going to immerse yourself in student council work to rid yourself off the headache that I'm already having…

"Yeah, that's all." The one eyed man shrugs, before taking out his book again. "Run along now, the two of you have , right?"

We walked out of the room in silence.

* * *

In the halls, however…

"We're dead, we're dead, we're dead, we're dead, we're dead, we're dead..."

"No we're not." Sasuke grunts; must've find my repetition annoying. "We can still do something about this."

"Oh yeah you're right! Why don't we go and dig out our graves!" bumping my fist into my palm, imagine me saying that in Pee-Wee Herman's voice. "HAH! LIKE HELL THERE'S SOMETHING WE COULD DO!" I'm so close to pulling out my hair here. But I calmed myself down, I don't want to be seen walking and shouting around this guy at the same time. "…so, what can we do, huh?"

"First, we talk to Tsunade."

"Dude, she'll kill us the moment we step into her office."

"I doubt that. She'll most likely do that after we explain ourselves."

…yeah, he's kind'a right on that one. "So let's say we talked to her still managed to keep our heads, what then?"

"Second, we explain and take whatever punishment she'll give us like the responsible adults we are."

…dude.

"Dude, you gotta-" I'm speechless. "…look here Sasuke." I gritted my teeth, desperately trying to keep my voice as contained and restrained as possible. "The only form of punishment that awaits us is death. There's no escaping this."

"Oh I know that." is this guy serious? "…but there's no way she'll kill us right there and then in her office, she'll get her carpet dirty."

I stood, mouth opened wide like a tunnel. Then, I closed my mouth, considering his reasoning. "That's actually… a valid reason but there's still death in the equation here man, we're supposed to put it out of it!"

He placed a hand on my shoulder, giving me a rare smirk. "Hey, at least we'll die doing something dangerous."

Then he advances a few steps after me, stopping and then glances behind to look at me. "I'll be going on ahead, you go to the room and tell the rest that I won't be able to attend the budget meeting."

"Wait, why the hell do I have to do that?" why don't you do that and I'll go to class.

"I don't want to be late for class, duh. What, do you have mashed potatoes for brains, dobe?"

"I'll turn your brain into mashed potatoes you dick…"

Then he just leaves, leaving me all alone with a new task. Sometimes, I regretted attending this school.

* * *

So I'm currently making my merry way to the student council's room, which is located at the third floor. Since mine and Sasuke's classroom is at the second floor, that means I had to climb the stairs to reach their room. The halls are quiet, as expected, so class must be in session. I can hear the sound of cheering and other form of noises coming from outside. Aw man, they're doing track and fields! Damn I wanna join!

I quickened my pace, not really running, since our school has a very strict rule when it comes to running in the hallways. The last time somebody did that, they had to run around the campus ground… while being chased by one of the Inuzuka kennel's dogs. A Doberman if I was not mistaken.

After a good minute of walking, I reached the room. Without hesitation, I slid open the door.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand I already regretted not knocking.

"WHOA! U-UZUMAKI-SENPAI!" screams a younger male voice to me. "What are you doing here?!"

"UWAH! SENPAAAAAAAAIII!"

I dodged an incoming human bullet, letting whoever that rocketed towards me hit the wall behind me. With a completely unamused expression, I stared at the scene before me.

Imagine… nah, there's no way of imagining this, you gotta know the full sight to understand.

The two boys, who are currently half naked and in a rather… _compromising_ position on the floor, are Konohamaru and Udon. The girl that launched, but missed, at me like a bullet before is Moegi. The three of them are first year students, making us their seniors by a year and they are all idiots.

This is why Sasuke has too much work to do.

"Konohamaru… Udon… mind telling me why are the two of you half naked and playing WWE on the floor?" I asked, my voice as course as ground pepper.

"I-It's because of Konohamaru, Uzumaki-senpai!" Udon, the bespectacled snotty-nosed boy, exclaims immediately without even the slightest hint of hesitation. "H-He wanted to try out a new move from a wrestling show we watched last night over at Moegi's!" he screams in dismay while being pinned down by the much more active boy. "A-And as for why we're naked, he told me that it's for the immersion! Help me senpai!"

"…" these kids… I could only imagine how their parents raised them, well, except for Konohamaru since you can blame me for the way he's acting. "Konohamaru, let Udon go, you're gonna cause a misunderstanding."

"Whaddaya mean, Nii-san?" Konohamaru, don't call me that at school, godammit. "I'm pulling off a John Cena shit right here, bro! Watch 'dis!"

Konohamaru shifted both his and Udon's position, switching the glasses boy's position so that he's lying belly first on the floor. Konohamaru then, using his whole weight, pinned the thinner boy and keeping him on the ground. Konohamaru has his right foot to lock Udon's left foot in a very painful and uncomfortable hold, while he has his hands pulling back on the thinner boy's neck.

Oh, the STF, nice hold.

"Say uncle!"

"But I don't have an uncle!"

Idiots, these kids.

Just as I was about to step inside the room, something glomped onto me. Hard.

"Uzumaki-senpai~! It's so good to see you here, senpai!"

"Moegi… please don't crush my spine…" The grip of this girl is insane. How can someone this small exert so much force? "And let go of me, please."

"Awright senpai!"

These three are members of the student council, with Sasuke being the president. They're all good, but annoying most of the times, kids. Even though Sasuke's the president of the , Konohamaru's the unquestioned leader between the three of them.

Sarutobi Konohamaru, as the name suggests, is the grandson of the late old man Sarutobi Hiruzen. I remember the kid when he'd learn of his gramps' passing. It took him a full month to recover, he'd just graduated from middle school too. With the combined effort of his friends and family, he managed to get over his gramps' passing and be the annoying little tyke he's always been in no time. Konohamaru is the treasurer of the student council, he deals with the money that the school gives to the clubs.

Next is Udon. No last name, yeah, weird right? I've known these kids for three years, they'd been with me ever since I was a graduate from middle school. Anyway, Udon's your friendly guy. He's the pacifist, the nice guy. But that don't always mean he finishes last. Intelligent but in a geeky kind of way, Udon's made his spot for being the student council's secretary. His job is to provide physical presentation when Sasuke needs to see the numbers on a figure.

Lastly, there's Moegi. She's the girl of the group, the eye candy. Cheerful and outgoing, not afraid of showing what's in her mind. She also acts as mediator between the two boys, the one who's wearing the pants in their threesome, really since she's not afraid to pull out several punches when push comes to shove. She is also the vice president of the student council. Unexpected, right?

"The two of you," I'm referring to the boys who're still on the floor playing WWE, "quit it and stand up." The two boys detached from each other and they're like springs on their feet. "I won't be here for long, since I'm basically truanting right now so shut up and listen." It's kind of cute to see them stand in attention like that.

"Sasuke will be busy after school, he told me to let you guys know."

Konohamaru reacts instantly, an objecting look evident on his face. "Wait, what?! But we have a budget meeting with the clubs today! He promised that he'll come!"

I sighed. "He did? Then he'll just have to make it up to you guys another time. It's very important."

"…are you going with Kaichou too, senpai?" Udon tilts his head, snot dripping down from his nose.

I smiled. "You know the bastard, he'll die if I'm not there to look out for his sorry ass."

"Then, please tell Sasuke-kaichou that he'll be having more paperwork!" Moegi says. "It's bad enough if he ditches the meeting, so he'll have extra papers for him to work with."

I pity you Sasuke, I really do.

"Well alright." I leaned down, taking turns to ruffle their hair. "Be good kids and don't cause trouble, alright?" I glared. "Especially you, Konohamaru. Moegi, keep an eye on him."

"Hey!"

"Alright senpai!"

* * *

"…is it activated yet?"

"Almost, ma'am. Three more minutes and it should be active."

"Good."

Senju Tsunade lets out a very tired sigh. What's a woman got to do to get a break around here? Ever since she assumes the position of chairman and principal, things have been very to and for her. The responsibility of being a chairman and principal at the same time does not bode well for her stress levels. It's bad enough that she can't spend her free time drinking all her problems away like she used to do, but having to deal with being the chairman and the principal at the same time? Yeah, that's torture.

It does not help when her job and responsibilities extend far beyond just the school. Being the most famous and prestigious school in this ward, her school has a reputation to keep. And with a school with a very sensitive and scandalous history, it's a very hard job to maintain reputation.

Her school has had a… history with Leaf Corp. Their involvement with the notorious company is deeper than one thought it would have been. Leaf Corp was literally using her school as a recruitment center for their scientists, though this fact is not morbid or weird at all, it still leaves much to be discussed. The previous principal, her sensei, abolished any existing partnership with the android manufacturing company. Until this day, she never really understands why her deceased mentor did what he did.

"Ma'am, agents 6 and 9 have arrived." One of the operators sitting in front of a computer screen in the dark command room says, informing Tsunade.

"Where are they now?"

"They are walking on hallway 3."

"…give them clearance."

"Yes ma'am."

Whatever it is that caused her sensei to sever all ties that they had with Leaf Corp, it certainly has made her job twenty times harder. In the very beginning, her school is not only a school. Now, it also a secret organization specifically created with the intention of providing private security to important VIP's. It may seem redundant, if not useless, to build up a secret organization with human agents when having an android bodyguard is more efficient and effective. But that's the whole point of her organization. Contrary to what's happening in Japan, there are still quite a number of people who disapproved of the existence of androids; or the idea of androids coexisting with humans in general. Activists or protestors against androids' coexistence are very vocal and are not afraid to rally for protests. Japan is considered to be a peaceful country. Anything or anyone that plans to protest usually do so on a very minor scale, or just done beneath the sheets. But, for some reason, when it comes to their cybernetic companions; things usually turn a little bit wilder.

Her organization has two objectives.

The first one is to ensure public safety from android threats. Believe it or not, marketed androids have shown to be capable of malfunctioning as common as your normal household appliances. Though the cases are few, it is still within their area of concern, especially when the only prominent android manufacturer in Japan is none other than Leaf Corp itself. Now Leaf Corp has a solution for 'malfunctioning' androids, they offer reimbursement to avoid serious lawsuits and even went as far as to pay hush money, if you dig deep enough into the pile of dirt that hides their secrets. Now, no one knows why these androids malfunction. The only reason Leaf Corp or any other android manufacturer would give is that there are technical problems in the android's main processing unit, which is supposed to be the 'brain' of these synthetic human beings. Android violence against humans is not common, but quality is what matters most when compared to quantity in this case.

A previous and the latest reported android malfunctioning case reported of the android going berserk in a densely populated area. That area is the ward of Chiba. Reports said there were about fifty killed and many injured. Environmental damage, weirdly, is minimal despite the number of lives lost. This case, in itself, is as strange as it could get because the Machina Creationem Treaty; an agreement that all android manufacturers have to sign and abide in, clearly and patently states that androids must not be programmed to harm humans. This incident dubbed as the 'Terminator – see what they did there – Incident' left behind conspiracy theorists and the media active for several months. Looking back at the result of disaster, the number of lives lost and injured as well as the minimum amount of structural damage… one cannot help but think that the android that was responsible for the incident must have been programmed or at least had been instructed to specifically kill humans.

Some even went as far as to think that the android itself came up with the intention to kill humans itself.

The incident caused an international debate about android manufacturing laws and other political and security shit storm that, unfortunately, they have to also be concerned with.

The second objective of Tsunade's organization is to actively intercept, monitor, infiltrate and even sabotage any major activities that Leaf Corp does. Despite how small, contained and underground her organization is; they're willing to take the risk of facing an entity as big as Leaf Corp. Parabellum. Originally founded and established by her late mentor himself, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Parabellum is supposed to be a secret entity even more underground than most secretive organizations out there in the world. She was not there during her mentor's last moments, too caught up in personal matters and the next she knew; she gets a 2 in 1 deal by becoming both the chairman/principal of a school AND the head director of a secret organization. Now she knows why Asuma gave the position to her… that man is surprising smart sometimes…

The first few weeks were hectic, especially after her sensei's death. The organization's only a year old with little to no influence. They only have very little assets and manpower, most of the manpower is invested in desk jobs, almost no one was taking any field jobs. But her sensei was a very smart man. He was not known as the Professor for nothing, after all. That old monkey predicted that this would happen… everything. He knew that Asuma would surrender the position of chairman to her as well as her new position of director of Parabellum. He had everything prepared for her. Money, lists of contacts, contracts, several names of people of interest… almost everything really, it made her wonder why didn't he set this whole thing up before dying. But knowing his personality, his reasoning would be for her to learn along the way, as always.

One thing that she finds very admirable and annoying about her late mentor was his way of making someone learns by putting them through the test immediately. She understands his reasoning. Trial by fire, running before walking… her late mentor was a soft spoken, yet strict man.

Having been gone through countless files that awaited her the moment she entered her office, Tsunade finally understands what her new position entails.

Opening her eyes after what seems to be an hour long of inner thinking, the door to the command room slides open, revealing two silhouettes.

"Kept me waiting, didn't you?"

Urgh… she's in a bad mood, looks like we'll die after all.

"Sorry for the wait, Madam Director." I said with a rather strained expression. "We came as quickly as we could but… traffic, yes, traffic."

What, don't glare at me like that you bastard, at least I gave a reason!

"Traffic, Uzumaki?" Oh, believe me when I say that her tone's anything but humor. "This place is built underneath the school's compound, what kind of traffic did you encounter on your way here, huh?"

"Uh…" shit, "… _human_ traffic, ma'am."

She sighs. Hm… if she keeps on scrunching her face like that, wrinkles will form on her skin. But I'm not as dumb as everyone else thinks, so I kept my mouth shut.

"…It's still too early for this shit… anyway," she clears her throat, getting into what I called her 'Director Mode'. "I suppose the two of you know why you're here?"

Thankfully, Sasuke speaks for the both of us, answering her. "It's about our latest assignment, is it not?"

Tsunade snorts. I flinched a little, actually. "Hmph, looks like the two of you have some balls after all." Balls, hehehe. "Yes, it's about your latest assignment." Her eyes turn harsh, nearly making me jump. "The very same assignment that the two of you made a mess out of." From underneath her station, which is like this podium like thing with buttons, she pulls out a brown paper file. I could not really tell if it was brown or anything because the light in the room is quite dim, only computer and monitor screen provides brightness here.

I shifted uncomfortably on my position. This is not our first time getting reprimanded like this, but unlike those times, we're actually aware that the mess we left were actually big ones; the kind of mess that the organization has to use their influence and money to clean it with.

"In our defense, Madam Director," I started, "our mission orders were not clear. We tried to reconfirm it with HQ but it was an outside briefing." Hey, I'm not going to go down without defending myself. "We assumed that the mission was critical and decided not to contact HQ, but instead proceed with orders."

"Not a good reason, agent." She bites, shutting me up. She's so scary when she's mad, don't blame me for being a pussy here! "I would have looked the other way if the mission was not critical, but you were right! It was critical. And the two of you fucked up at one of the most critical assignments that you had! It's damn good thing that we could easily contain the damages despite all the favors that we have to pull out of our asses."

Sasuke and I are just silent.

Well, we fucked up. Bad.

Four days ago, Sasuke and I were briefed to spy and monitor a very important PoI – Person/People of Interest – listed down as a high class VIP. Mission orders told us to strictly observe and monitor the PoI, other than that, nothing else matters. So, normally, when receiving an assignment like this, we'd pack light, have written absence permission to be given to the school – I don't know why they require us to do this but it has something to do with formalities – and spend the entire day monitor our target. Sasuke and I are partners, we work together. On missions like this, we'd divide our job into two roles. Sasuke will deal with things from behind the screen, while I take the field job.

Sasuke knows his way around technology. Hell, it's the reason why he's here working for Parabellum in the first place. He was a grey hat before he worked for Parabellum, doing all kinds of security breaching here and there and on some of Japan's well-known business enterprises. Japan's a city known for its five year technologically advanced infrastructure. With a guy who could easily hack into that kind of system, we're almost invincible. Almost. Why? Well, let's just say that Sasuke's not the only hacker in Japan, but that's a story for another time.

He'll use security cameras, triangulating system, bugs and even going as far as hacking into Tokyo PD's database if it means completing our mission. But thankfully, during this particular job, he didn't have to go that far. He just had to locate the guy so that I could follow him on foot. Getting to the guy, our target was easy. But it's the reason why that particular assignment failed. HQ did not give any additional information, and we assumed that they wanted us to find out about it all by ourselves, which was no problem. What we didn't know is that our target was being hunted down by Leaf Corp. He was on Leaf Corp's hit list for multiple cases of corporate security breaching, mishandling of private documents and other sort of things that would get someone in trouble.

So we tracked the guy down all the way in Ginza, and it's only until I reached there when we realized about the kind of shit we're about to trudge into.

The guy had Leaf Corp agents after him, though our mission parameters stated to only observe the guy; I wasn't about to let them have him. I and Sasuke agreed to rescue the guy and protect him from Leaf Corp agents, but in doing so, we had to get our hands – mostly mine – dirty. After successfully getting rid of our target's pursuer, I approached the guy to take him under our protection.

But it's all part of Leaf Corp's plan. The whole goddamned thing was a set up done by Leaf Corp.

The guy was just bait to get us out of hiding. I'm not perfectly sure as to what happened, but I guess that Leaf Corp was aware of somebody snooping around their property and watching over them and decided to root out the watchful eyes that have been monitoring them. Us. It was a set up and I barely got out of that shit storm. Parabellum's existence was compromised.

"But there's no stopping Leaf Corp from actively searching for us now." I can taste the grimness of her tone in the air. "But what's done is done, the only thing we can do now is making sure that no one repeats the same mistake the two of you made." She's really going to need a lot of drink after this, hell, I probably do too. "We've upgraded security measures. From now on, field agents are not allowed to do jobs alone, which means no more going out there alone to beat the bad guys, Naruto. Your partner will be with you on the field on every mission you'll receive from now on. Let us handle with the background stuffs, that'll also lower our chance of failing an assignment."

…ouch, she's not going to let this down, is she? Well, not that I can blame her, I mean, we fucked up bad after all.

"Director, while I have no problem working with the idiot over here" Oi, "will we still be allowed to devise our own approach?" Sasuke asks.

"You still can, but not without confirmation." Seems reasonable enough. "And starting from now on, you two – specifically – will be doing more assignments. **A** -ranked, assignments."

Oh no…

"With a twenty percent pay cut."

Oh God, she's a demon.

The director of Parabellum smirks when she sees the look of horror on my face. "Consider it your punishment, unless you want me to do something more?"

"No ma'am." Sasuke and I answered at the same time.

"Good."

She presses a button and a holographic screen is projected in the air from the projector attached to the ceiling. The screen shows pictures of people, buildings, places and written information. Naturally, we're both paying attention to what Tsunade is going to say.

"Now, let's get to the other reason why you're here."

Ah, looks like they're going to send us on our punishment so soon.

The holographic screen zooms into the picture of a well-dressed, black haired and a very much Japanese man. Straight black hair, black eyes, pale complexion… it's hard to distinguish him from your common Japanese male, if it weren't for his attire. Another image, smaller than the first one, pops up and sits along the corner of the projected screen; this time showing a building of some sort.

"He is Sakurai Ando, one of Leaf Corp's major shareholders. He's been affiliated with Leaf Corp for two years but he contacted us earlier today saying that he wants out."

…well that's surprising.

"Why, exactly?" I asked. "And today? Isn't that kind'a suspicious?" this whole thing smells fishy to me already.

"We do not know." Tsunade shook her head. "He contacted us from a secure line and judging from the way he was speaking… it seems that he was in no position to explain things properly." She taps a button on one of the interface. "Here, listen."

An audio file opens on the screen, showing nothing but the file's name and an icon of a megaphone. After a fraction of a second buffer, the audio file plays.

" _Is this thing on? Yes, it should be. Ahem. To my… probably future benefactor and partner, my name is Sakurai Ando, one of Leaf Corp's major investor. While I know how absurd and sudden this message is, let me just say that I'm… one of the few people who are not against your… movement."_

His breathing, it's heavy, despite the formal register of his speech. There's an uncomfortable pause from this point.

" _It's quite the opposite in fact."_

Another pause. This time, total silence. No sound of him breathing. Then, he resumes again.

" _I would like to join your cause. Leaf Corp, for whatever ground breaking achievements that it might have done in the past, is not supposed to be this powerful. We're not supposed to be this influential."_

He takes his time to cough, followed by some more ragged breathing.

" _I'm in no position to talk much, at the moment, but I promise you that I will answer all of the desired questions that you have once you found me."_

The sound of something heavy thumps on the background. It doesn't echo, so he's probably close to whatever made the noise.

Then, he whispers,

" _Find me. Please."_

The audio ends, leaving us on the edge of our seats.

"…he's being chased." Sasuke mutters just loud enough for both Tsunade and I to hear.

"That's what we thought too." Tsunade nods, while using the interface to return the projected screen to the earlier picture of a building. "We managed to locate Sakurai-san's latest known location." The projector transitions to a 3-D, live and colored satellite feed of a location somewhere in the Tokyo metropolitan. "But there's no telling if he's still there or not."

"Wait I know this location." All eyes are on me, suddenly. "I've been around there a few times, in fact, it's nearby."

"That's right." Tsunade, who has just received confirmation from one of the operators working in the background, confirms my claim. "It's just nearby, in Konoha. A building which is currently undergoing construction and is sixty percent done." The feed zooms further, showing the state of the building. Cranes are still present, but there're little to no workers present. Probably security posted in front of the entrance gate.

"But what's Sakurai doing in a place like that?" I asked again.

"Whatever's chasing him probably caused him to go there in hopes of losing it." Sasuke answers in his calm and distinguished stoic manner. He frowns. "But shouldn't a person like Sakurai have security following him around? Androids?"

"Hm… he should have…" Tsunade, what are you not telling us? Scanning through paragraphs of information, Tsunade enlightens us with the answer. "But it seems that he's known to take walks around town without security details sometime. And, unfortunately for him, today's one of those days."

Great. This guy's gonna get killed because of his own stupid reasoning.

"Then there's no time to waste." I flexed my arm. "We'll go to his last known location ASAP. What's our gear?"

"You'll be packing light, but don't hesitate to bring some EMP equipment with you."

Ooh? Alright, this is gonna get interesting…

"Agents six and nine, bring back Sakurai Ando in one piece… failure is not an option boys." Uwaaah… I don't like her glare.

"Yes ma'am."

"Uh, but one more thing, ma'am."

Everyone looks at me.

"Can we please get another callsign?"

She grins. "No."

Fuck.

* * *

"I'm in position."

Tsunade told me to pack light and so I did. But let me just define what 'light' means to me: light means my equipment may not exceed the bare weight of seven kilograms and that's including uniform. I ditched my school uniform, opting for my street look instead; which means I'm basically wearing what I'd normally wear. Over a thin layer of orange tank top, I wore thick layer of faded denim jacket that I bought somewhere during a clearance sale. Hey, it ninety nine cents. A pair of khaki pants, red North Star sneakers and a black Velcro belt to keep my pants in place; these are what I usually wear when I'm out of school. The shoulder bag that's slung over my, guessed it, shoulder contains all of the gear I need. My gun's there, the EMP 'nades are there along with extra ammunitions.

" _I see you, get inside the construction site immediately."_

"Yeah, yeah."

Sasuke's on over watch. He's watching the building from a tall building with a sniper rifle a few blocks away from where I'm at. I waltzed into the compound and it's empty, but it seems that nothing serious happened in here.

"Hey remind me, why is there no one here?" I asked Sasuke through my earpiece.

" _The workers get their breaks around these hours, they're probably around town drinking… but I spotted two security guards, you might want to avoid them."_

"But you managed to hack into Tokyo PD's system, right?"

" _Yeah, you should be okay if things go too hot. Anyway, are you inside the building yet? I can't see you on my scope from my position."_

"I'm making my way up. Their construction lift's offline and I don't wanna waste time trying to figure out how to turn them on."

" _It would've been possible if you're smarter…"_

"Ha ha, shut up and keep an eye out for anything."

As I'm having my conversation with Sasuke, I'm climbing up the stairs. It's a very tiring and exhilarating process, but I've been through worse. As I'm climbing, I suddenly have a lot of respect for those that worked construction jobs… man, the government better pay those guys properly…

Anyway, as I reached each levels, by the way there's about twenty floors in this building, twenty one if you include the unfinished roof top, I yelled out the 'Sakurai' as loud as I could.

"Sasuke, I'm… haah… I'm in the eighteenth floor now and there's still no sign of Sakurai… haaah… whew… I'm sweating like a hooker in church."

" _Hm. That sounds like what your godfather would say."_

"Oh, he did in fact, said it."

"… _he seriously brought a hooker to church?"_

"Don't ask me."

From here onwards, I might as well just make my way up to the roof and check there already. Opening my bag, I reached through the contents for my gun, because I have a sinking feeling that I might need it when I reached the roof. I climbed up the flight of stairs to the nineteenth floor and then proceeding directly to the twentieth and then making my way up to the roof.

"Ow shi-!"

As soon as I emerged from the staircase, a bullet whizzes past me to the floor, causing it to ricochet. Immediately, I ducked into cover, hiding behind a stack of conveniently placed construction sandbags. Raising my gun, it's a SIG Sauer P226 by the way; I took a brave peek from my cover to see my attacker.

"Who are you?! Who sent you!? Are you from Leaf Corp?" the guy who, I assumed, just shot me shouted from his position. He has his own gun raised, but I couldn't really tell what it is specifically. But I know who the guy is.

"Are you Sakurai Ando-san?!" I shouted, still behind cover. "I'm from Parabellum and I'm here to get you to safety! Lower your weapon and don't shoot!"

" _Oi, dobe, I see someone standing with a gun. Is that Sakurai?"_ Sasuke's words buzzes through my earpiece.

"Yeah, it's him." I replied back as I got out of cover to approach Sakurai. "I'm going to approach him, watch our surroundings."

" _Hn."_

I made my way through the stacks of construction materials still with gun in hand. The scaffoldings are still erected and they provide no resistance at all to the wind that's blowing from our north. It's getting pretty windy tonight; maybe it's about to rain? Couldn't really tell cuz it's dark.

I walked up to Sakurai Ando and man is he roughed up. His clothing's disheveled, as if he's gone through downtown while running through four marathons. His breathing is still ragged and I could see blood stains on the white collar of his shirt.

"Are you hurt?" I asked.

"No, it's not my blood." He says to me in a hurried manner. "Look, we need to get out of here fast. I managed to lose her but she'll catch up to us any moment now." From his tone alone, you can sense how desperate he is to get out of here.

"Alright, but who's 'her'? Is there someone after you?"

"Yes!" he exclaims, the tension getting to him. "We have to go no-"

The sound of something being flung away, crashing to an unfinished wall disrupts us from our conversation. My focus flicked over to the cause of it all and I raised my gun at the culprit. A woman. The first thing I noticed about her was her ominously red hair. No, seriously, it glows even with the bright construction lights on the roof, I can see her hair glowing red, bright red, resembling blood. Her hair billows due to the wind and it nearly made my heart sink. Next thing I noticed about her were her eyes. They're the same shade of red as her hair. Then, I realized that she's exuding an air of negativity, compelling me to run away and flee the area.

She raises her head, allowing me to get a clearer look of her face.

…she looks way too hot to be human, gotta be an android.

"Naruto! I'm seeing another person, who is she!?"

"Android." I whispered, but I'm sure she picks up what I just said judging by the reaction she gives.

"So… you got to him before I do, huh?" her voice is as smooth as fine silk, and it makes it even scarier. I have my sights on her, but regular bullets won't do much damage to an android. "That's going to give me a bad rep…" she sighs. The way she's talking, it's as if she's genuinely disappointed.

Sakurai is silent behind me, he too is clutching his gun. It's a Browning Hi-Power, by the way.

"My sensors are detect an adequate amount of electromagnetic energy stuffed into a cylindrical container in your bag… so you're prepared to fight an android like me…?" she sounds amused. I'm not. "Going to put up a little bit of resistance, are we?"

Shit… shit, shit shit… this is bad. There goes my element of surprise, the only element I have a very good affinity with other than laziness. Now shit's going to get harder.

"I'm going to make things easier for you." she says, crossing her arms.

By the way, the clothes she's wearing? Totally suit her. She wears a long sleeved red turtleneck with the words 'HELLO BITCHES' written in bold black letters in front. Over that, she has a sleeveless vest with studded metals on the back area. The skintight jeans she's wearing would've been a sight to be seen from behind, if she wasn't going to kill us. And the orange and white beanie she's wearing on her head have two triangles poking out of them resembling ears. She wears a pair of really intimidating studded boots as well as a pair of fingerless gloves. Overall, she looks like someone who's gonna kick my ass all the way to Sunday. Oh yeah, she's an android too, fuck me.

"You can't fight her… we need to escape…" Sakurai grits his teeth.

"…yeah, I kind'a figured that out already… but escaping is easier said than done here…"

"Hey, quit having your private conversation over there and let me finish talking!" she snaps at the both of us in a rather comical manner, shaking her head. "Sheesh… men… anyway, I'm gonna make it easier for you, blondie." She raises a finger. "First option: leave the old man and return to wherever shitty organization you came from and never interfere with our business again. Or two…"

Her eyes flashes red, pupils turning into slits as she lets out a bone chilling snarl.

" **I'll beat you the fuck up and then take the old man back."**

Whoa, I legit flinched right there.

An uncomfortable pregnant silence dawned on us and I'm keeping radio silence with Sasuke because I don't want to compromise his presence in this operation. She found out about the EMPs, so I'm not about to have my only hope out of this whole situation found out too. Five second's passed and I still haven't answer her question.

I opened my mouth,

"Fuck no bitch, you can suck my cock." I flatly said.

…

…

"….wah?" she's like a fish now, mouth opening and closing. "You.. you just… bwahahahahaha!"

Nooooow she's laughing. Great. I'm gonna regret this so much.

Her eyes turn deadly again. **"Wrong answer, sweetie."**

I pushed Sakurai away.

Moving fluidly, reacting by a hair's breadth, I managed to duck underneath a punch that could have launched my head from here all the way to the ward next to Konoha. Reacting immediately, seeing that I've gotten underneath her defenses, I slammed my elbow to her sides as hard as I could, but not just stopping there. I pulled my knife that's sheathed inside the sheath strapped to my Velcro belt and jam it right to her pits. Now, a normal knife wouldn't do much here but watch this.

I pressed the button on the bottom of the hilt.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Electricity surged through her body and it must've done some damage to her circuits too if it's enough to cause her to limp forward. I used my strength to support her body, breaking her fall. As I'm holding her, I could not help but feel as if I've just fried and ultimately killed a random but good looking girl.

Then, I was wrong.

"That's not going to be enough, human."

"Guhrk…!"

She sinks her fist into my gut, causing me to spit out saliva and blood. I tried to not drop to my knees, but the pain is too real for me to handle. I felt a hand grabbing me by the collar, lifting me up the air. I looked down and I can see her face twisted into the very definition of fury.

"You got a lott'a nerve doing that to me, human. Now, die."

She's about to throw me off the roof, but if it wasn't for Sakurai… that would've come true.

Three gunshots and all of them landed at their target, the android's head. Again, bullets are useless against high-end androids like her so what Sakurai just did was to create a bit of distraction so I could counter or at least break free from her grip. And I did. I pushed all of my weight on her, causing her to topple back. But I know that if we're both on the ground, things are just going to get worse for me. Swiftly, I tried to stab her on the head.

The key word is 'tried' here.

She caught my hand just as we land on the concrete floor.

"I can't shoot from here! Let me get a clear shot!"

Electricity's cackling around the blade of my knife and it's just inches away from her forehead.

"Fuhuhu…! You're quite skilled, despite being human… but," yeah, I knew it,

When it comes to strength…

"…I'm stronger than you!"

With a maddened cry, she rips the knife off my arm, throwing it somewhere unreachable and then flinging me off away causing me to crash into the scaffoldings.

I can feel the weight of metals and other all sorts of materials on my numbing body. It hurts all over and I can't move.

From my helpless position, I can see her approaching Sakurai who's taking up position near the edge of the building.

"No… you idiot don't jump…"

I can't let this happen.

The wind is too strong. Sasuke cannot provide any sniper support.

I tried to use any remaining strength I have in my body to emerge from the things that are weighing me down. But to no avail. I cursed in three different languages, English, Japanese and Italian. I saw the android walking closer towards Sakurai.

"C'mon… I jus… need 'ta… push…!"

Meanwhile…

"This is it, Sakurai-san. This is as far as you go." She watches as the man returns her gaze with fearless eyes. Even if he's, literally, on the edge of death, he still manages to keep his composure. "Things would have been fine if you'd just follow and went along with the plan, Sakurai-san."

Sakurai chuckles. "That's where you're wrong, android. The things that you were doing would only result in total destruction and chaos. Nothing 'fine' would be resulted if you're to go along with your current plan."

The female android snarls, a stomp of her causes nearby box to rattle. "The Ninth one, Sakurai! Where did you hide it?!"

But the man smiles, unfazed by her threat. "I wonder."

She is about to grab the man and give him a piece of her processing power, but something… something…

"DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

And Sakurai did.

"Oh waddafu-UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Like a plan that's stalled in the air, both me and this robot chick is plummeting down to our doom. As we're falling, she shouts, "YOU'RE A CRAZY SON OF A BI-

I grabbed her and placed her under me. Sorry, but you did try to kill me.

We crashed through a tall scaffolding that manages the slowed our fall and I'm using her as cushion. Our falling speed is great reduced, but I'm still feeling it here!

"I'LL KILL YOOOOOU!"

"WE'RE DYING ANYWAAAAAAY!"

We landed, both of us equally fucked.

* * *

"Uuuuuurgh…"

Yeah, it's mostly me who's fucked.

I'm in a stage of pain that neither men nor machine on earth could ever explain. Every single part of my body hurts and I can't feel anything waist down. I'm struggling to breathe, then I realized that blood is pooling inside my mouth.

"Blrrgh!... Kufh…! Huuh…!"

Not good… I'm bleeding…

Though my hearing's retarded due to the fall I just took, I can still hear the sound of something dragging towards me.

Using whatever strength that's still in me, I managed to lift up my upper body to see a certain red haired T-800 limping towards me with ruined clothing, a disjointed arm and overall murderous intent.

"You…"

I can detect pure death in her voice.

"You… little… shit of a human being…"

Shit… I'm gonna die like this.

"I'll KI-"

Then a multitude of I-Beams fall on top of her, crushing her underneath their weight.

Despite how groggy my state of consciousness is, I managed to look up and see someone from the operator's cab climbing down the stairs. I blacked out, but moments later, I regained consciousness again, still in pain.

"Good thing… that's… ove-

I spoke too fucking soon.

The metal I-Beams are flung to the air, causing collateral damage everywhere. Good thing none landed on me. I stared in morbid fascination as a fucked up and hammered shit looking android crawled out of the crater that's created after having tons of those I-Beams landed on top of her. She crawls towards me, her body's breaking off, showing her internal components. This is so scary that I can't even think right now. I can only watch as she crawls towards me with her mechanical body parts barely keeping her… together.

"Y..ou… I'…ll ki…ll… yo…u…!" even her voice's distorted.

She's inches away from me and I closed my eyes.

Three gunshots. That's all I heard.

Opening my eyes, I see Sasuke running towards me joined by Sakurai who's just descended from the crane.

Ah… my vision's blacking out for real this time…

Shit… need… to…

Sta…y…

Awake…

"He's… …ying…"

"No…can… s…ve... …im…"

Sasuke…? Sakurai…? Are they talking…?

"I… …ave… …lan."

* * *

Machine and men.

Nerves and circuits.

Processor chips and brain.

Heart and engine.

Free-will and pre-programed.

The difference is there, yet so are the similarities.

The androids, for a lack of better words, are perfect.

They're designed to be perfect human beings, capable of doing things that no normal men can do. They're meant to be human… yet not at the same time.

But the other way around?

It sounds ridiculous.

Until now.

" _I never asked for this."_

 _..._

" _Naruto, this is who you are now."_

 _..._

" _They're killing our race! Our existence!"_

 _..._

"… _Leaf Corp will not stand idle as the world crumbles underneath its feet."_

 _..._

" _Parabellum, prepare for war."_

What is created by men will be destroyed by men.

What is created by God will be destroyed by God.

What's a cyborg ought to do?

* * *

 **Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed this one shot. I got inspirations from the Deus Ex franchise and I actually got a little further than I originally thought I would planning this thing. I even had scenes, story and arcs planned out, but this will only remain a one-shot.**

 **Unless you guys say otherwise.**

 **So, please tell me what you think about this in the reviewers' section. Peace out.**


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